There are big time toys for boys to be found at the new William Evans shop in London's St James's, just across the road from their main gun shop. Their cutlery collection, designed by Robbe and Berking, features a knife for pretty much everything: parmesan, smoked salmon, oyster, tomato, bread, caviar (you cut caviar?), truffles, crab, cake and lobster. Or you could go for the Paul Costelloe 44-piece cutlery service for £798.

To hone those cutting skills you could go along to Leiths cookery school in London's Kenslington. They are holding a morning class on Knife skills on 5 December (9.30am-1pm, £60) plus a carving lesson in the afternoon (2-3.30pm, £40). Details: 020 7229 0177; info@leiths.com.

Books for boys: Anne Willan's A Cook's Book of Quick Fixes (Quadrille, £7.99) is, as its comforting strapline suggests 'how to turn adversity into opportunity'. It copes with rescuing an omelette stuck to the pan, disguising hard eggs; rescuing curdled and overcooked things; perking up old or dull things like turning limp lettuce into soup. Very soothing.

Andrew Langley has written a series of tiny books on tips. Normally I dismiss these things as gimmicky, but I do think The Little Book of Wine Tips and Little Book of Cheese Tips (Absolute Press, £2.99) have some really good advice.

A Greener Life by Clarissa Dickson Wright and Johnny Scott (Kyle Cathie, £25) takes a robust approach to country life with chapter headings like Trapping, Shooting and Unwanted Visitors (from ants to weasels).

If you were feeling slightly overwhelmed and under-inspired by the prospect of cooking, then the BBC Good Food Show (23-27 November, Birmingham NEC) would be a good place to gain confidence. Gordon Ramsay and Rick Stein are just two of the chefs creating three-course meals in 30 minutes; or you can have your cholesterol level tested. Plus lots of sommeliers on hand, including Fifteen's Matt Skinner.

Dedicated beer fans will welcome all Bar One's Beer Boutique promotion that runs until 27 November featuring new draught and bottled beers from the continent. Free tastings from six to seven nightly.

Help and shortcuts in the kitchen include the Pocket Cook deluxe web edition (£13.99) loaded on to the Sony Ericsson P910i thus giving you dozens of recipes on your mobile. Available from their e-shop at Sonyericsson.com/uk. To win a Sony Ericsson P910i handset worth £350 plus the Pocket Cook package (but without connection) send a postcard with your name, address and daytime telephone number to R Seal, OFM, The Observer, 119 Farringdon Rd, EC1R 3ER. For full terms and conditions please click here.

And last but not least is Mike Minton's Egg-Cellent - the perfect egg soldier cutter that took this 37-year-old engineer from Bridgend a year and five tries to perfect. A front runner at last month's British Invention Show, this little gadget should be on sale early next year for around £5.99.